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Strangers at Lourmarin

From Aix you can easily visit Lourmarin by car or as a complicated gymkhana on public transport. We opted for the gymkhana... We can summarize that the buses only run in leap years, which leaves you a margin of "years" to visit the tiny village of Lourmarin with CALM before returning.Desde Aix puedes visitar Lourmarin fácilmente en coche o como una complicada gincana en transporte público. Nosotros optamos por la gincana... Podríamos resumir que los autobuses sólo circulan en años bisiestos, lo que te deja un margen de "años" para ver el diminuto pueblo de Lourmarin con CALMA antes de poder volver.[play&read]

Lourmarin's most famous resident was Albert Camus, the Nobel prize-winning author of The Stranger.

Camus hated driving and said he couldn't imagine a death more meaningless than dying in a car crash. Of course, he died in a car accident, on the way from Lourmarin to Paris, in 1960. He was 46. Albert Camus is buried in Lourmarin cemetery.

Even if it is difficult to arrive to Lourmarin with public transport (it took us 90minutes to arrive from Aix, which is at only 30km) is really worth it. Lourmarin has all these beautiful french stereotypes that makes you wanna moved there immediately to become an artist (until you realize the size of the village and your head activates the alarm of boredom approaching).

One of the most emblematic monuments of Lourmarin is its castle, originally from 12th-century. In 1920, Robert Laurent-Vibert, a producer of cosmetics, bought the ruined castle and employed the architect Henri Pacon to restore it. In 1925, Laurent-Vibert died also in a car accident. In his will he donated the castle to the Académie des Sciences, Agriculture, Arts et Belles Lettres under condition that it should be transformed into a trust, which would support young artists.